Everything you wanted to know about Zolar's Astrological Tarot

Everything you ever wanted to know about Zolar's Astrological Tarot -- but were afraid to ask!


This deck is meant for fortune telling. It's a jimcrack deck, a geegaw, not Serious Tarot. Wicce's review says it's something you'd see "in those cheesy ads in the back of old comic books, along with sea monkeys, pepper gum, whoopee cushions and other nefarious items." Whoopie cushions is about right. I just want you to know what you're getting into here.

It's also a mutant - there are only 56 cards in the deck. The Minors and Courts are on one side of the 56. On the other side, we have the Majors and 32 astrological cards. Since 22 + 32 adds up to 54, there are also two that are blank on one side. The Minors have playing card symbols as well.

As the booklet helpfully tells us, this is actually FOUR decks in one. It's a 56 card Tarot Minors deck, a 22 card Tarot Majors deck, an astrology fortune-telling deck, and a regular pack of fortune-telling playing cards.

Wands correspond to Clubs, Cups are Hearts, Swords are Spades, and Pentacles are Diamonds.


As far as I can tell, there have been three editions of Zolar's Astrological Tarot. (Edit: Or possibly there are four - see further down in the thread.)

* 1963, Zolar Publising Co., Inc. -- These are mostly black and white, with red playing card symbols and some text in red or blue.
* 1965, Parker Brothers Inc. -- Two colors are added: minty green and bright pink (the red playing card symbols are pink, too). The Majors and astrological cards now have minty green pebbled borders.
* 1980, US Games Systems, Inc. -- The pebbled borders were replaced with flat minty green.

You can see examples of the Fools and "backs" on Holly's RWS pages. Scroll down to the seventh row:

Holly's RW Pages
http://home.comcast.net/~vilex/ShipofFools.html
http://home.comcast.net/~vilex/Cardbacks.html

Holly also notes that between the 1963 and 1965, the meanings for the Fool/Fool Reversed changed places!

I don't think there's any kind of system for which Major is on the back of which Minor. It seems completely random. And it appears that with each edition, the order in which the cards are printed back-to-front has changed.

Who was Zolar?

Bruce King (1897-1976)

"A modern tycoon of astrology who used the pseudonym Zolar. Born in Chicago, King became an actor, stockbroker, and eventually part owner of a radio station in Los Angeles. The station had an astrologer named Kobar as general manager, and King was impressed with his financial success. In the same week that Kobar left the station to go to Hollywood, another astrologer demonstrated a dime-in-the-slot horoscope machine to King. The two men went into partnership in the Astrolograph Company, putting the machines in movie theaters.

"King later conceived the idea of making horoscopes for chain stores and established a highly successful business. It was then that he took the pseudonym Zolar, derived from the word zodiac with echoes of "Kobar." He later sold approximately 100 million horoscopes and published a variety of popular books on astrology and occultism.

"King died January 16, 1976."


Source: http://www.answers.com/topic/bruce-king

The LWB for Zolar's Astrological Tarot gives directions, meanings, and example spreads for reading the deck as fortune-telling playing cards. The Knights are removed (as they have no playing card equivalents) and all 52 remaining cards are dealt out in six rows, nine cards to a row. Then "key" cards are located in relation to a previously chosen significator card.

I haven't thoroughly read this section yet, but it looks like the cards are dealt out and read three times, for the past, present, and future. It must take a good chunk of time, especially if you don't have the meanings memorized, and have to look them up in the book.

But doesn't the box promise, "All predictions are clearly printed on the faces of the cards"? Yes - but those relate to using the pack as tarot, not as the playing card deck. You have to memorize the meanings, or look them up. Sucker!

And if you want to know more than what the LWB tells you, you have to pay for it. "For a complete course on Fortune Telling with a Regular Pack of Playing Cards, mail $1.00 to Zolar, 333 W. 52nd St., New York, NY 10019."


The booklet goes on to give instructions for using the cards as Minor Arcana (make sure you don't turn any cards over while shuffling). There's an elaborate shuffling and cutting regime, during which you make a silent wish, before dealing out the cards. Again, this is a six row spread, though this time the rows are only five cards each (30 cards total). If the Ten of Cups appears, you'll get your wish sometime in the next 30 days.

Zolar warns, "Be sure to practice many times alone, before attempting to read someone else's fortune." It's nice to see him advocate reader's responsibility.


The Majors method looks about the same, except your spread is now fourteen cards in two rows of seven, and you are reading them in pairs. Again you get to make a silent wish, and the Wheel of Fortune determines whether you'll get it or not (definitely if it's upright, and after delays if it's reversed).

"Do not tell fortunes with any one method more than once during the time indicated. MINOR ARCANA once a month, MAJOR ARCANA once a week, and ZOLAR'S ASTROLOGICAL CARDS once a day."

Finally, the LWB gives directions for reading with the Astrological Cards. These are super cheesy looking. You can see a couple of them in the picture I attached to this post (borrowed from here).

There's one card for each Zodiac sign, in minty green, and two for each planet - red Favorable and black Unfavorable. The planets include Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Each has a lucky number and some predictions/advice printed on the card, like "Pertains to Home Affairs, Based Upon the Card Over or Under," or "denotes Gossip, Slander or Intrigue, Beware of Jealous Friends." Some of these are repeated on more than one card, which is annoying.

Again, you shuffle and make a Silent Wish. The spread is three rows of four cards each, then on top of those, three more rows of four cards each.

"IF THE RED MARS APPEARS IN THE LAY-OUT, YOUR WISHES WILL COME TRUE!" (Caps are Zolar's.) The Black Mars, on the other hand, is a warning against extravagant urges and all speculative ventures in the coming week.

You're supposed to combine the meanings of the pairs, but I haven't read this section thoroughly yet. And I might never, since I'm not into astrology. It does seem to be a complicated system. You have to count how many green Zodiac cards, red Favorable and black Unfavorable cards there are, and how many there are of each relates to things like romance, financial concerns, domestic difficulties, emotional upsets, etc. It's a little confusing but as Zolar says "with a little practice, you will learn how to interpret the different combinations so you can give an intelligent reading."

"DO NOT READ CARDS FOR THE SAME PERSON MORE THAN ONCE IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS."

The Lucky Numbers, by contrast, are stupidly simple - you just shuffle and deal out however many lucky numbers you need. And presumably go buy your lottery ticket and win big so you can buy more stuff from Zolar.

I forgot to mention, in the introduction in the LWB, Zolar says he altered the original Tarot deck the way they did, "in order to simplify matters"! I think he took a wrong turn somewhere on the way.

The LWB is also peppered with little ads.

"SPECIAL NOTICE

"Due to the limited number of Zolar Astrology Magazines on the newsstands and in the chain stores, I urge all of my readers to send in for a one year subscription at once. You will then be sure to get each issue. You cannot afford to miss one issue. Some very important and special articles, containing vital information that will prove most valuable and informative. Zolar's astrological information is a must for everyone. ZOLAR."


"SPECIAL PERSONAL SERVICE
YOUR PROGRESSED HOROSCOPE
For the Next 12 Months

"Plus a complete delineation of your Natal Chart, based upon the time, day, year and place of birth. Plus your Sun sign Horoscope and daily guide. Plus the Astrological answers to three problems. All for $15.00 ppd."


There's also an ad for his dream dictionary (10,000 dreams interpreted! Alphabetically arranged!), a Ouija board, a Genii board that looks exactly like a Ouija board, "Is Your Destiny in the Stars?" book, and a looonnnng list of more books with titles like

Your Invisible Powers
Secrets of Mental Magic
Eat, Think, and be Slender
Hypnotism in Sex
How to Sleep Better Without Pills
Secrets of the Psalms
You Can Learn to Relax

"ZOLAR makes no claim to the supernatural or the authenticity of these items. They are offered for sale for what they may be worth to the purchaser. If not satisfied for any reason, money will be refunded upon the return of the articles purchased. Sorry, no COD service. Any item for $1.00. Send CHECK, CASH, or MONEY ORDER."

Fascinating!

My wife has one of these things from before we were married, and I'm looking at it right now. The box is titled "Zolar's New Astrological Fortune Telling Cards." All 78 images of the modern tarot are represented on the 56 cards, some of which are double-sided. Those without a tarot image on both sides have astrological significators and "lucky numbers" on the reverse; a few cards just have plain backs. The backs are indeed a pebbled minty green, as are the borders of the Majors and the borders of the non-Tarot backs. The tarot images are red, white, black, pink and a deeper minty green. The box reads "Signification of the 76 TAROT CARDS are printed right on the CARDS. Nothing to Memorize - Nothing to Learn." I did, in fact, find all 78 images, and the LWB mentions 56 Minor Arcana and 22 Major Arcana. I'm looking in vain for a publication date and a publisher, though. The address to send orders to was "50 Bond Street, Westbury, New York NY 11590." Zip codes were introduced in 1963, so that didn't help. What I don't know is whether this address was for one of the publishers mentioned earlier, so I can't pinpoint the date of our copy. The box has "No. 631" printed on it but I have no clue what that means since I'm sure many thousands were printed.

The LWB is a riot. The advertisements on the back cover for Zolar's books lead off with:

"Zolar, World's Most Popular Astrologer, offers these occult books."

Followed by the disclaimer mentioned above, and the books for $1 or $2 each.

I could even purchase a ouija board for $4.95! And I do remember very well seeing Zolar's astrological magazine on the drugstore magazine racks as a teen-ager.

I wish my wife hadn't scrawled her name on the box. This might have been worth something . . .

ETA: Oops! The box says right on it "Zolar Publishing Co. Inc., 333 West 52nd St., New York, NY 10019." It's not one of the publishers mentioned previously, so I wasn't paying attention. I'm not sure how this affects the dating.

Does hers have the pebbled green background, or plain? I got from Holly's RW pages that the 1965 decks are the pebbled ones, and the 1980 reprints are plain.

Worth something! Do you mean to say you'd SELL this gem?

Isn't the book a hoot? I might actually try out the spreads. Not the Astrology Cards one, though. It screams "bogus" even more than the $4.95 Ouija Board.

Laura Borealis said:

Does hers have the pebbled green background, or plain? I got from Holly's RW pages that the 1965 decks are the pebbled ones, and the 1980 reprints are plain.

Worth something! Do you mean to say you'd SELL this gem?

Isn't the book a hoot? I might actually try out the spreads. Not the Astrology Cards one, though. It screams "bogus" even more than the $4.95 Ouija Board.

Click to expand...

I edited my post to note that they are pebbled. Since it appears that Zolar started his own publishing company before U.S Games got the rights, I'm wondering if ours falls somewhere in between 1965 and 1980. My wife would have been a pre-teen in 1965 (don't tell her I said that ), and when we met in 1978 she already had it.

ETA: As a stereotypical Cancer/Capricorn/Scorpio, I never sell ANYTHING!!!!

You know, I was assuming that mine was the Parker Brothers' one because I was going by Holly's scans and information, and the way they look. But in fact, my book and box don't say Parker Bros. anywhere on them. They do say Zolar Publishing Co, Inc on the box, with the address 333 West 52nd St. in New York.

So maybe Holly's publishing info is wrong for the 1965 version? Either that, or Parker Bros. didn't put their name on the product (which is hard to imagine!)


ETA another picture of Zolar!

Great info! I never had the deck, but when I was a child, there was a book by Zolar in my family's home about sun signs, and that was my introduction to astrology. The deck looks like a real eyesore.

Nice pics of Zolar!